Greg Mankiw's Blog

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Gender and Human Capital Returns

Here is an interesting fact: Women earn a higher rate of return from a college degree than men. In particular:

After controlling for various demographic factors, the researchers found that female graduates earned more than $6,500 more per year than women with just a high school diploma, and more than $4,500 more than women who dropped out of college. Male graduates, by contrast, earned only about $2,700 more than high school graduates, and about the same amount as male college drop-outs.

The findings are consistent with past research, which has showed that jobs are much more gender-segregated in low-education occupations. Female drop-outs tend to concentrate in low-paying service-sector jobs, whereas less-educated men are more likely to find work in better-paying industries such as manufacturing and construction.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

A Profile of Stanley Fischer

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Why $9?

Since the State of the Union address, the minimum wage has heated up again as a political issue. You can read my previous posts on the topic by clicking here. (Unfortunately, some of the links in these old posts are now dead.)

There is one question I would like to see some reporter ask Alan Krueger, the president's chief economist: How did they decide that $9 per hour is the right level? Why not $10 or $12 or $15 or $20? Presumably, the president's economic team must believe that the adverse employment effects become sufficiently large at some point that further increases are undesirable. But what calculations led them to decide that $9 strikes the right balance?

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Econ Summer Camp

Those with an interest in the history of economic thought might want to consider this summer program. I have been told that the program is designed primarily for faculty members in economics, other social sciences, and the humanities, though three of the twenty-five slots are reserved for graduate students.

Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, and Your Economists, Too

Thursday, February 07, 2013

An economist breaks up with his girlfriend

Wednesday, February 06, 2013

Are Google Ads Racially Biased?

Chapter 19 of my favorite textbook has a case study on research establishing that resumes with names more common in the black community get less response from employers than resumes with names more common in the white community. Today's Boston Globe has a related article about the results you get when you google a person.

About Me

I am the Robert M. Beren Professor of Economics at Harvard University, where I teach introductory economics (ec 10). I use this blog to keep in touch with my current and former students. Teachers and students at other schools, as well as others interested in economic issues, are welcome to use this resource.